Prioritization of emergency calls

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods to prioritize emergency calls being placed to an emergency call center are based on geographical information, context information, and/or historical information associated with the emergency calls.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates to prioritizing incoming emergency calls andpresented incoming emergency calls to an emergency operator inaccordance with the determined priority.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, emergency phone calls are answered by an emergency callcenter, such as, e.g., a public safety answering point (PSAP). Operatorsat emergency call centers, also referred to as emergency operators,dispatchers, or emergency dispatchers, may gather information duringemergency calls, including, but not limited to, the name of the caller,the nature of the emergency, the location of the emergency, and/or otheremergency information. Operators may determine the appropriate type offirst response, including but not limited to police, fire, medical,and/or other types of first response. Operators may contact a dispatcherfor the determined type, e.g. a police dispatcher, fire dispatcher,medical dispatcher, and/or other type of dispatcher. In turn, the policedispatcher may contact appropriate emergency responders, such as one ormore police officers that are on duty and, e.g., near the location ofthe emergency.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure relates to a system configured toprioritize incoming emergency calls, preferably with very little delay.The prioritization may occur automatically. As used herein, the term“automatically” refers to the system's one or more operations or one ormore accomplishments that occur and/or proceed without manual and/orhuman intervention. The system may be controlled and/or guidedprogrammatically by its design and by virtue of the functionality of itscomponents, as described herein. By obtaining and/or processinginformation associated with incoming emergency calls automatically, theopportunity for human operators to introduce errors and/or delays may bereduced, minimized, and/or removed. The system is configured toprioritize and/or respond rapidly to incoming emergency calls beingplaced to an emergency call center before such calls are answered.

In some implementations, the system may work with Automatic CallDistribution (ACD). In such cases, incoming emergency calls may bequeued, optionally (re)ordered in accordance with priorityconsiderations and/or determinations such as described in thisdisclosure, and distributed and/or routed to emergency operators foranswering. Priority determinations may be based on information relatedto one or more incoming emergency calls, one or more emergency callsthat are in the process of being answered by an emergency operator, oneor more emergency calls that have been answered by an emergencyoperator, active computer-aided dispatch (CAD) events/incidents, and/orother information. For example, current incidents the system is aware ofmay contribute to the priority determinations.

The system may be hosted by and/or implemented on one or more servers.Callers, operators, dispatchers, and/or emergency responders mayinteract and/or communicate with and/or through the system. Interactionand/or communication may be implemented by telephones, electronicdevices, communication devices, client computing platforms and/orservers. Interaction and/or communication with the system may beimplemented over one or more networks, including, but not limited to,wired telephone networks, wireless telephone networks, the internet,and/or other networks.

The system may include one or more of one or more servers, one or moreemergency call centers, and/or other components. The server(s) may beconfigured to communicate according to a client/server architecture,and/or according other architectures. Callers, operators, dispatchers,and emergency responders may be referred to as users of the system.Users may access the system via landlines, wired telephones, wirelesstelephones, smartphones, electronic devices, communication devices,client computing platform(s), and/or other devices or combinationsthereof, jointly referred to herein as client devices. Callers maygenerate emergency calls via landlines, wired telephones, wirelesstelephones, smartphones, electronic devices, communication devices,client computing platform(s), and/or other devices or combinationsthereof, jointly referred to herein as emergency calling devices.

The server(s) may include electronic storage, one or more processors,and/or other components. The server(s) may be configured to execute oneor more computer program modules. The computer program modules mayinclude one or more of a call monitor module, a location module, acontext module, a priority module, a presentation module, a historymodule, and/or other modules.

The call monitor module may be configured to monitor incoming emergencycalls being placed to an emergency call center. Emergency calls may beproduced, generated and/or originated by callers using emergency callingdevices. The call monitor module may be configured to monitor anemergency call before the emergency call center personnel answers theemergency call. The call monitor module may be implemented, embedded,combined, and/or integrated with one or more emergency call centers toaccomplish the functions attributed in this disclosure to the callmonitor module. The incoming emergency calls may include a first call, asecond call, a third call, and so forth.

Emergency calls may be associated with different types of emergencyinformation, including, but not limited to, subscriber information,household information, location-based information, one or more types ofemergency, historical emergency information, and/or other information.Such information may have been gathered and/or processed in advance ofan emergency call, for example through one or more databases thatcorrelate telephone numbers and residence addresses. For example,subscriber information may include identification of the caller, suchas, by way of non-limiting example, a telephone number, an IP address,information from one or more radio towers used in establishing the call,a billing address, a residence address, and/or other information.

Emergency calls may be text-based and/or turn-based, such as a textmessage, voicemail, video message, email (conversations), and/or othertext-based and/or turn-based communication. For the purposes of thisdisclosure, a conversation using text-based or turn-based communicationmay be regarded as a single emergency call.

The location module may be configured to obtain and/or determinelocations associated with incoming emergency calls. The locations mayinclude geographical locations such as (physical) addresses, cityblocks, a particular area, and/or other locations. Information relatedto location may be received from an emergency calling device generatingan emergency call. Operation of the location module may be based on anyemergency information associated with an incoming emergency call.Operation of the location module may be responsive to an emergency callbeing placed to the emergency call center. Operation of the locationmodule may occur prior to an emergency call being distributed to and/oranswered at emergency call center. A first (geographical) location maybe associated with the first call; a second (geographical) location maybe associated with the second call, and so forth.

The context module may be configured to obtain context informationassociated with the incoming emergency calls. Context information maydescribe the context in which an incoming emergency calls is placed.Context information may be based, at least in part, on geographicallocations obtained by the location module and/or other geographicalinformation. Context information of a particular call may includeinformation regarding events and/or objects within a predetermineddistance of the geographic location associated with the particular call,and/or other information.

Some context information may be of a (semi) permanent type. For example,the (semi) permanent context information may pertain to the proximity ofobjects, including, by way of non-limiting example, geographicallandmarks, roads, bus stations, train stations, railroads, railroadcrossings, and bridges. A call may be treated and/or handled with ahigher priority if the associated geographical location is near arailroad crossing, a bridge, an address and/or location tagged and/orrenowned for being dangerous, accident-prone, and/or otherwise anoteworthy location in the context of emergency calls. Thesequalifications for geographical locations may be permanent orsemi-permanent, which may mean the qualifications only change graduallyand/or slowly, if at all. Furthermore, such qualifications may be knownin advance of any incoming emergency calls being placed to the emergencycall center.

Some context information may be of a transient type, which may bereferred to as real-time information. For example, the transient contextinformation may pertain to the proximity of events, including, by way ofnon-limiting example, sporting events, holiday activities, festivals,concerts, parades, and/or other planned events. Planned events mayinclude public transportation, as expected according to the bus or trainschedule. Events may include emergencies, including but not limited tocar accidents, fires in progress, criminal activity, and/or otherunforeseeable events or events unknown or unplanned by the public. Forexample, a call may be treated and/or handled with a lower priority ifthe associated geographical location is the scene of a previouslyreported car accident and police is already present or on the way). Sucha call is likely to be a duplicate reporting of an emergency that isalready being handled. Depending on the characteristics of theemergency, (expected or likely) duplicate reporting of an emergency maybe a reason to lower the priority of a particular emergency call.

The context information associated with an incoming emergency call maybe referred to as a set of context information. A first set of contextinformation may be associated with a first call that describes a firstcontext in which the first call is placed; a second set of contextinformation may be associated with a second call that describes a secondcontext in which the second call is placed, and so forth.

The priority module may be configured to determine a priority forincoming emergency calls. The determined priority (interchangeablyreferred to herein as priority information) may be used to controlpresentation to emergency operators. The determination of priority maybe based on context information. For example, responsive to a first calland a second call being placed to the emergency call center, a relativepriority between the first call (having a first set of contextinformation) and the second call (having a second set of contextinformation) may be determined. The determined relative priority may beused to control presentation to an emergency operator. The determinationof the relative priority may be based on the first set of contextinformation and the second set of context information. Through thecontext information, the determined priority may be based, by way ofnon-limiting example, on geographic information, active computer-aideddispatch (CAD) events/incidents, and/or other information associatedwith incoming emergency calls.

The presentation module may be configured to present incoming emergencycalls to emergency operators. Such presentations may be in accordancewith priorities determined by the priority module. For example,responsive to a first call and a second call being placed to theemergency call center, the first call and second call may be presentedto an emergency operator in accordance with a relative prioritydetermined by the priority module. In some implementations, a queue orordered list of incoming emergency calls may only partially be presentedto emergency operators. For example, in fully automated systems, onlythe incoming call having the highest determined priority may bepresented to an individual emergency operator.

The history module may be configured to obtain historical informationassociated with the incoming emergency calls. In some implementations,context information (and thus priority) may be based on historicalinformation from the history module. In some implementations, historicalinformation may include information related to one or more of previousemergency calls from the same emergency calling device, the same caller,the same or similar location, related emergency calling devices and/orclient devices, related callers, and/or other information. For example,a single caller may have multiple telephones with different phonenumbers. For example, a group of callers may live at the same address.These examples are not intended to be limiting in any way. Other typesof relations between emergency calling devices, callers, locations, etc.are contemplated within the scope of this disclosure.

The historical information associated with an incoming emergency callmay be referred to as a set of historical information. A first set ofhistorical information may be associated with a first call; a second setof historical information may be associated with a second call, and soforth.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present technology,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedelements of structure and the combination of parts and economies ofmanufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description and the appended claims with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification,wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in thevarious figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only andare not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As usedin the specification and in the claims, the singular form of “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configured to prioritize incoming emergencycalls, in accordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method to prioritize incoming emergency calls, inaccordance with one or more implementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of an exemplary interface in accordance withone or more implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 configured to prioritize incomingemergency calls, in accordance with one or more implementations. System100 may include one or more servers 12, one or more emergency callcenters 15, one or more client devices 14, one or more emergency callingdevices 17, and/or other components.

Server(s) 12 may be configured to communicate with one or more clientdevices 14 and/or one or more emergency calling devices 17 according toa client/server architecture. Components of system 100 may communicateover one or more networks 13. Communication may use techniquesincluding, but not limited to, wired, wireless, and/or combinationsthereof. In some implementations, system 100 may include communicationusing a peer-to-peer architecture. Users may access system 100 viaclient device(s) 14, emergency calling device(s) 17, and/or otherdevices.

Server(s) 12 may include electronic storage 50, one or more processors110, and/or other components. Server(s) 12 may include communicationlines, or ports to enable the exchange of information with one or morenetworks 13 and/or other computing platforms. Illustration of server(s)12 in FIG. 1 is not intended to be limiting. Server(s) 12 may include aplurality of hardware, software, and/or firmware components operatingtogether to provide the functionality attributed herein to server(s) 12.For example, server(s) 12 may be implemented by a cloud of computingplatforms operating together as server(s) 12.

In some implementations, server(s) 12, client device(s) 14, emergencycalling device(s) 17, and/or external resources 16 may be operativelylinked via one or more electronic communication links. For example, suchelectronic communication links may be established, at least in part, viaone or more networks 13, including, e.g., the internet, a telephonenetwork, and/or other networks. It will be appreciated that this is notintended to be limiting, and that the scope of this disclosure includesimplementations in which server(s) 12, client device(s) 14, emergencycalling device(s) 17, and/or external resources 16 may be operativelylinked via some other communication media.

External resources 16 may include sources of information, hosts and/orproviders of communication systems outside of system 100, externalentities participating with system 100, and/or other resources. In someimplementations, some or all of the functionality attributed herein toexternal resources 16 may be provided by resources included in system100.

Server(s) 12 may be configured to execute one or more computer programmodules. The computer program modules may include one or more of a callmonitor module 32, a location module 34, a context module 36, a prioritymodule 38, a presentation module 40, a history module 42, and/or othermodules.

Call monitor module 32 may be configured to monitor incoming emergencycalls being placed to an emergency call center 15. Emergency calls maybe associated with different types of emergency information. Emergencycalls may be produced, generated, and/or originated by callers usingemergency calling devices 17. Call monitor module 32 may be configuredto monitor an emergency call before emergency call center 15 answers theemergency call. Call monitor module 32 may be implemented, embedded,combined, and/or integrated with one or more emergency call centers 15to accomplish the functions attributed in this disclosure to callmonitor module 32.

In some implementations, call monitor module 32 may be configured tomonitor incoming emergency calls directly and/or before the calls enterand/or engage with an (operator at an) emergency call center 15. In someimplementations, call monitor module 32 may be configured to obtainaccess to incoming emergency calls and/or monitor incoming emergencycalls before, during, and/or after an (operator at an) emergency callcenter 15 engages with an incoming emergency call. The incomingemergency calls may include a first call, a second call, a third call,and so forth.

Location module 34 may be configured to obtain and/or determinelocations associated with incoming emergency calls. The locations mayinclude geographical locations such as (physical) addresses, cityblocks, a particular area, and/or other locations. Information may havebeen gathered and/or processed in advance of a particular emergencycall, for example through one or more databases that correlate telephonenumbers and residence/billing addresses. Information related to locationmay be received from emergency calling device 17 generating an emergencycall. Such information may include geo-location information determinedon the emergency calling device (e.g., global positioning systeminformation, cell tower triangulation information, pseudo-locationinformation, and/or other information). In some implementations,information related to location may be based on phase 1 type cellularinformation, phase 2 type cellular information, and/or other cellularinformation.

Information related to location may be obtained from one or moreexternal resources 16. For example, location module 34 may be configuredto query an external database using the telephone number associated withthe emergency calling device generating the emergency call. The externaldatabase may store associations between telephone numbers andresidential addresses. The operation of location module 34 may be basedon any emergency information associated with the emergency call.Determinations by location module 34 may be responsive to an emergencycall being placed to emergency call center 15. Determinations bylocation module 34 may be made prior to such an emergency call beinganswered at emergency call center 15. A first (geographical) locationmay be associated with a first incoming emergency call; a second(geographical) location may be associated with a second incomingemergency call, and so forth.

In some implementations, location module 34 may be configured todetermine, estimate, and/or derive a level of accuracy that isassociated with an obtained or determined location. The level ofaccuracy may account for the different granularity and/or accuracyassociated with different types of sources of location information. Forexample, the address information associated with a landline telephonenumber is expected to be a highly accurate type of location information,and/or expected to vary in a small range or within a short distance froma particular address. For example, cell tower triangulation informationor other pseudo-location information associated with a cellphone isexpected to be a moderately accurate type of location at best, and/orexpected to vary in a greater range or within a greater distance from aparticular estimated location. Depending on the density of communicatingcell towers in a particular area, the accuracy may vary. Distances orranges may be about 10 feet, about 50 feet, about 100 feet, about 300feet, about 500 feet, about a city block, about a quarter mile, about ahalf mile, about a mile, and/or other distances.

Context module 36 may be configured to obtain context informationassociated with the incoming emergency calls. Context information maydescribe the context in which an incoming emergency calls is placed.Context information may be based, at least in part, on geographicallocations obtained by location module 34 and/or other geographicalinformation. Context information of a particular call may includeinformation regarding events, incidents, and/or objects within apredetermined distance of the geographic location associated with theparticular call, and/or other information. Note that such informationregarding events, incidents, and/or objects may include informationrelated to active CAD events/incidents. In some implementations, suchinformation regarding events, incidents, and/or objects may includeinformation that is not obtained through emergency calls, but, rather,obtain from other information sources.

Some context information may be of a (semi) permanent type. For example,the (semi) permanent context information may pertain to the proximity ofobjects, including, by way of non-limiting example, geographicallandmarks, roads, bus stations, train stations, railroads, railroadcrossings, and bridges. A call may be treated and/or handled with ahigher priority if the associated geographical location is near arailroad crossing, a bridge, an address and/or location tagged and/orrenowned for being dangerous, accident-prone, and/or otherwise anoteworthy location in the context of emergency calls. Thesequalifications for geographical locations may be permanent orsemi-permanent, which may mean the qualifications only change graduallyand/or slowly, if at all. Such qualifications may be known in advance ofany incoming emergency calls being placed to emergency call center 15.

Some context information may be of a transient type, which may bereferred to as real-time information. For example, the transient contextinformation may pertain to the proximity of events, including, by way ofnon-limiting example, sporting events, holiday activities, festivals,concerts, parades, and/or other planned events. Planned events mayinclude public transportation, as expected according to the bus or trainschedule. Events may include emergencies, including but not limited tocar accidents, fires in progress, criminal activity, and/or otherunforeseeable events or events unknown or unplanned by the public.

For example, a call may be treated and/or handled with a lower priorityif the associated geographical location is the scene of a previouslyreported car accident (assuming no injuries are reported and police isalready present or on the way). Such a call is likely to be a duplicatereporting of an emergency that is already being handled. Depending onthe characteristics of the emergency, (expected or likely) duplicatereporting of an emergency may be a reason to lower the priority of aparticular emergency call.

For example, a call may be treated and/or handled with a high priorityif the associated geographical location is near a railroad crossing andthe context information indicates a train is scheduled to pass thatrailroad crossing within a predetermined period from the moment theincoming call is placed. Such a scenario may e.g. indicate some sort oftrain accident. The predetermined period may be context-specific.Periods may range from about 1 minute, about 5 minutes, about 10minutes, about 30 minutes, about an hour, and/or about a suitable periodin light of the particular event type.

The context information associated with an incoming emergency call maybe referred to as a set of context information. A first set of contextinformation may be associated with a first call that describes a firstcontext in which the first call is placed; a second set of contextinformation may be associated with a second call that describes a secondcontext in which the second call is placed, and so forth.

In some implementations, context information may be updated and/orchanged as additional and/or improved information regarding an eventbecomes available. For example, a car accident may initially be reportedas having no personal injuries. As more information becomes available,the context information for this particular car accident may be updatedto reflect how many people were injured and/or how serious any injuriesare. Determined priorities may be updated accordingly.

Priority module 38 may be configured to determine a priority forincoming emergency calls. The determined priority may be used to controlpresentation to emergency operators. The determination of priority maybe based on context information. For example, responsive to a first calland a second call being placed to emergency call center 15, a relativepriority between the first call (having a first set of contextinformation) and the second call (having a second set of contextinformation) may be determined. The determined relative priority may beused to control presentation to an emergency operator. The determinationof the relative priority may be based on the first set of contextinformation and the second set of context information. Through thecontext information, the determined priority may be based, by way ofnon-limiting example, on information associated with incoming emergencycalls, calls in the process of being answered, completed calls, and/oractive CAD events/incidents. Operation of priority module 38 may bebased on information from any other module in system 100.

Presentation module 40 may be configured to present incoming emergencycalls to emergency operators. Such presentations may be in accordancewith priorities determined by priority module 38. For example,responsive to a first call and a second call being placed to emergencycall center 15, the first call and second call may be presented to anemergency operator in accordance with a relative priority determined bypriority module 38.

Presentation module 40 may be configured to present, display, render,generate, and/or implement (hereinafter referred to as “present” or a“presentation of”) user interfaces for users (including but not limitedto emergency operators at emergency call center 15) to interact withsystem 100.

Presentation module 40 may be configured to present interfaces throughclient devices 14 and/or to one or more emergency call centers 15. Userinterfaces may be provided to users. Presentation module 40 may beconfigured to receive one or more inputs (e.g. control inputs and/orcommand inputs) from an individual user that affect presentation of anindividual user interface. The user interface may present an offered setof user-selectable options for the presentation of incoming emergencycalls, priority information, emergency information, locationinformation, context information, historical information, and/or otherinformation. The received inputs may include one or more selections fromthe offered set of user-selectable options. Alternatively, and/orsimultaneously, a user interface may provide other ways for users toaffect the presentation, including, but not limited to, textual input,touch screen gestures, pointer device input, and/or other ways for usersto affect the presentation.

History module 42 may be configured to obtain historical informationassociated with the incoming emergency calls. In some implementations,context information (and thus priority) may be based on historicalinformation from history module 42. In some implementations, historicalinformation may include information related to one or more of previousemergency calls from the same emergency calling device, the same caller,the same or similar location, related emergency calling devices and/orclient devices, related callers, active or formerly active CADevents/incidents, and/or other information. For example, a single callermay have multiple telephones with different phone numbers. For example,a group of callers may live at the same address. These examples are notintended to be limiting in any way. Other types of relations betweenemergency calling devices, callers, locations, etc. are contemplatedwithin the scope of this disclosure. For example, if a particular callerhas called on one or more previous occasions regarding a particulardisturbance (by way of non-limiting example, a previous occasion may berelated to domestic abuse) that involved one or more particular people,information to that effect may be included in the history informationand/or the context information.

In some implementations, historical information may include personalinformation associated with an emergency call. Personal information mayinclude one or more names, ages, gender, and/or other personalinformation associated with a caller, a registered user for a particulartelephone number, a registered resident at a particular (billing)address, and/or other people.

In some implementations, historical information may include a callfrequency associated with the same emergency calling device, the samecaller, the same or similar location, related emergency calling devicesand/or client devices, related callers, and/or other information. Insome implementations, historical information may include one or moreemergency types associated with the same emergency calling device, thesame caller, the same or similar location, related emergency callingdevices and/or client devices, related callers, and/or otherinformation. By way of non-limiting example, emergency types may includeprank calls, domestic violence, drug overdoses, and/or other types ofemergency. Historic information may be used by the priority module todetermine priority.

The historical information associated with an incoming emergency callmay be referred to as a set of historical information. A first set ofhistorical information may be associated with a first call; a second setof historical information may be associated with a second call, and soforth.

Users may interact with system 100 through client devices 14, emergencycalling devices 17, and/or other devices. For example, interaction maybe controlled through control inputs and/or commands input by the usersthrough client devices 14 and/or emergency calling device(s) 17. By wayof non-limiting example, input from users may be entered using interfacedevices including, but not limited to, a telephone, a keypad, buttons,switches, a keyboard, knobs, levers, a display screen, a touch screen,speakers, a microphone, an indicator light, an audible alarm, a printer,and/or any combinations thereof. By way of non-limiting example, clientdevices 14 and/or emergency calling devices 17 may include one or moreof a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, aNetBook, a tablet, a Smartphone, a gaming console, and/or othercomputing platforms. Note that the depictions of devices and/or iconsused in FIG. 1 are not intended to be limiting in any way. For example,a cellphone could be an emergency calling device 17.

By way of illustration, FIG. 3 illustrates a view 300 of a userinterface 301 as presented to a particular emergency operator. Userinterface 301 may be presented through a client device. User interface301 may be presented in response to one or more emergency calls beingplaced to and/or being handled by an emergency call center. Theseemergency calls may be referred to as the first and second emergencycalls in reference to FIG. 3, or first and second call for short.Elements of user interface 301 may be implemented as fields configuredto receive entry, selection, and/or confirmation from a user. The fieldsmay include one or more of a text entry field, a set of selectable menuitems, a selectable field, and/or other fields configured to receiveentry, selection, and/or confirmation from the emergency operator. Thenumber of elements, components, and/or (user-selectable) fields depictedin FIG. 3 is meant to be exemplary, and not limiting in any way. Userinterface 301 may be configured to present information to and/or enableinteraction with the emergency operator viewing view 300.

User interface 301 of FIG. 3 may include a first icon 302, a second icon308, location information 307 and 306, emergency-specific interfaceelements 303 and 304, priority-specific interface element 310, a firstperimeter 311, a second perimeter 312, and/or other components orfeatures. An area of user interface 301, e.g. the center as shown inFIG. 3, may schematically depict a map of a particular geographicalarea, in particular an area relevant to the first and second call. Forexample, the map may include streets and location information 307 and306. For example, location information 307 may be a street name. Forexample, location information 306 may indicate street attributes, suchas a one-way street. Location information 306 may be updateddynamically, for example to reflect traffic conditions, roadblocks,real-time information, etc.

First icon 302 may indicate and/or represent a determined location ofthe first call. First icon 302 may indicate and/or represent adetermined, obtained, estimated, or expected type of the first call. Forexample, first icon 302 may have a particular color, shape, size, and/orgraphically distinguishable characteristic such that the emergencyoperator may rapidly obtain relevant information about the first call.For example, first icon 302 may indicate a particular type ofaltercation in progress. Emergency-specific interface elements 303 and304 may include an object, interface, and/or other items that theemergency operator viewing user interface 301 may interact with, such asa menu of user-selectable options and/or actions for engaging thesystem. For example, emergency-specific interface element 303 maydisplay a name and/or address (or any other emergency information)associated with the first or second call. For example,emergency-specific interface element 304 may indicate an emergency type,context information, historical information, and/or other informationpertaining to one or more incoming emergency calls.

Second icon 308 may indicate and/or represent a determined location ofthe second call. Second icon 308 may indicate and/or represent adetermined, obtained, estimated, or expected type of the second call.Second icon 308 may have a particular color, shape (e.g. of a car),size, and/or graphically distinguishable characteristic such that theemergency operator may rapidly obtain relevant information about thesecond call. As depicted in FIG. 3, second icon 308 may represent a carinvolved in a particular type of car accident.

First perimeter 311 may indicate the estimated level of accuracy of thedetermined location of the first call. Second perimeter 312 may indicatethe estimated level of accuracy of the determined location of the secondcall. The difference in the size of first perimeter 311 and secondperimeter 312 may be based on the origination type of emergency call.For example, the first call may be placed from a landline telephone,whereas the second call may be placed from a cell phone.

By virtue of the technology described herein, a priority may bedetermined between the first and second call. Priority-specificinterface element 310 may for example include one or more objects thatthe emergency operator viewing user interface 301 may interact with,such as a menu of user-selectable options and/or actions for engagingthe system. In some implementations, interface element 310 may be a listof (links to answer) the incoming emergency calls. The list may beordered according to the determined priority. In some implementations,interface element 310 may only include the incoming emergency callhaving the highest priority. For example, the emergency operator mayselect, through interface element 310, to answer the call having the toppriority first, or, if made available to the emergency operator, toanswer another call first.

The depiction and description regarding FIG. 3 of two incoming emergencycalls is not intended to be limiting in any way. Priorities may bedetermined between any plurality of incoming emergency calls. Prioritiesmay be based, by way of non-limiting example, on comparisons betweenincoming emergency calls, known emergencies, emergency calls in theprocess of being answered by an emergency operator, active CADevents/incidents, and/or other information. Referring to FIG. 1, in someimplementations, system 100 may be configured to automatically answerthe incoming emergency call having the highest priority as determined bya priority module.

Referring to FIG. 1, server(s) 12, client device(s) 14, and/or emergencycalling devices 17 may include electronic storage 50. Electronic storage50 may comprise electronic storage media that electronically storesinformation. The functionality of electronic storage 50 may be similarbetween different instantiations, even if the stored information may bedifferent. The electronic storage media of electronic storage 50 mayinclude one or both of system storage that is provided integrally (i.e.,substantially non-removable) and/or removable storage that is removablyconnectable to server(s) 12 and/or client device(s) 14 via, for example,a port (e.g., a USB port, a firewire port, etc.) or a drive (e.g., adisk drive, etc.). Electronic storage 50 may include one or more ofoptically readable storage media (e.g., optical disks, etc.),magnetically readable storage media (e.g., magnetic tape, magnetic harddrive, floppy drive, etc.), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g.,EEPROM, RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.),and/or other electronically readable storage media. Electronic storage50 may include one or more virtual storage resources (e.g., cloudstorage, a virtual private network, and/or other virtual storageresources). Electronic storage 50 may store software algorithms,information determined by processor(s) 110, information received fromcomponents of system 100, and/or other information that enablesserver(s) 12 and/or client device(s) 14 to function as described herein.

Server(s) 12 and client device(s) 14 may include processor(s) 110.Processor(s) 110 may be configured to provide information processingcapabilities in server(s) 12 and/or client device(s) 14. Thefunctionality of processor(s) 110 may be similar between differentinstantiations, even if the processing capabilities may be different.Processor(s) 110 may include one or more of a digital processor, ananalog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, ananalog circuit designed to process information, and/or other mechanismsfor electronically processing information. Although processor(s) 110 isshown in FIG. 1 as a single entity, this is for illustrative purposesonly. In some implementations, processor(s) 110 may include a pluralityof processing units. These processing units may be physically locatedwithin the same device, or processor(s) 110 may represent processingfunctionality of a plurality of devices operating in coordination. Theprocessor(s) 110 may be configured to execute modules 32-42, and/orother modules. Processor 110 may be configured to execute modules 32-42,and/or other modules by software; hardware; firmware; some combinationof software, hardware, and/or firmware; and/or other mechanisms forconfiguring processing capabilities on processor(s) 110.

It should be appreciated that although modules 32-42 are illustrated inFIG. 1 as being co-located within a single processing unit, inimplementations in which processor(s) 110 includes multiple processingunits, one or more of modules 32-42 may be located remotely from theother modules. The description of the functionality provided by thedifferent modules 32-42 described below is for illustrative purposes,and is not intended to be limiting, as any of modules 32-42 may providemore or less functionality than is described. For example, one or moreof modules 32-42 may be eliminated, and some or all of its functionalitymay be provided by other ones of modules 32-42. As another example,processor 110 may be configured to execute one or more additionalmodules that may perform some or all of the functionality attributedherein to one of modules 32-42.

It is noted that the division of functionality between server(s) 12 andclient device(s) 14 is not intended to be limited by this disclosure.Functions described in relation with server(s) 12 may be performedand/or shared by one or more other components of system 100, includingclient device(s) 14, and/or vice versa.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 for prioritizing incoming emergencycalls, in accordance with one or more implementations. The operations ofmethod 200 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In someimplementations, method 200 may be accomplished with one or moreadditional operations not described, and/or without one or more of theoperations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations ofmethod 200 are illustrated in FIG. 2 and described below is not intendedto be limiting.

In some implementations, method 200 may be implemented in one or moreprocessing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, adigital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuitdesigned to process information, and/or other mechanisms forelectronically processing information). The one or more processingdevices may include one or more devices executing some or all of theoperations of method 200 in response to instructions storedelectronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices configured throughhardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed forexecution of one or more of the operations of method 200.

At an operation 202, incoming emergency calls being placed to anemergency call center are monitored, wherein the emergency calls includea first call and a second call. In some embodiments, operation 202 isperformed by a call monitor module the same as or similar to callmonitor module 32 (shown in FIG. 1 and described herein).

At an operation 204, a first geographical location associated with thefirst call and a second geographical location associated with the secondcall are obtained. In some embodiments, operation 204 is performed by alocation module the same as or similar to location module 34 (shown inFIG. 1 and described herein).

At an operation 206, context information associated with the incomingemergency calls is obtained that describes the contexts in which theincoming emergency calls are placed. The context information is based ongeographical locations. The context information includes a first set ofcontext information associated with the first call and a second set ofcontext information associated with the second call. In someembodiments, operation 206 is performed by a context module the same asor similar to context module 36 (shown in FIG. 1 and described herein).

At an operation 208, a relative priority between the first call and thesecond call for presentation to an emergency operator is determined,responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to theemergency call center. The relative priority is based on the first andsecond set of context information. In some embodiments, operation 208 isperformed by a priority module 38 the same as or similar to prioritymodule 38 (shown in FIG. 1 and described herein).

At an operation 210, the first call and second call are presented,responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to theemergency call center, to an emergency operator in accordance with thedetermined relative priority. In some embodiments, operation 210 isperformed by a presentation module the same as or similar topresentation module 40 (shown in FIG. 1 and described herein).

Although the present technology has been described in detail for thepurpose of illustration based on what is currently considered to be themost practical and preferred implementations, it is to be understoodthat such detail is solely for that purpose and that the technology isnot limited to the disclosed implementations, but, on the contrary, isintended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that arewithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, it isto be understood that the present technology contemplates that, to theextent possible, one or more features of any implementation can becombined with one or more features of any other implementation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured to prioritize incomingemergency calls for emergency operators, the system comprising: one ormore processors configured to execute computer program modules, thecomputer program modules comprising: a call monitor module configured tomonitor incoming emergency calls being placed to an emergency callcenter, wherein the incoming emergency calls include a first call and asecond call; a location module configured to obtain geographicallocations associated with the incoming emergency calls such that,responsive to the first call being placed to the emergency call center,the location module obtains a first geographical location associatedwith the first call, and such that, responsive to the second call beingplaced to the emergency call center, the location module obtains asecond geographical location associated with the second call; a contextmodule configured to obtain context information associated with theincoming emergency calls that describes the contexts in which theincoming emergency calls are placed, wherein context information isbased on one or more geographical locations wherein the context moduleis configured such that, responsive to the first call being placed tothe emergency call center, the context module obtains a first set ofcontext information associated with the first call that describes afirst context in which the first call is placed and includes the firstgeographical location, and such that, responsive to the second callbeing placed to the emergency call center, the context module obtains asecond set of context information associated with the second call thatdescribes a second context in which the second call is placed andincludes the second geographical location; a priority module configuredto determine priority information that indicates priority for incomingemergency calls for presentation to emergency operators based on thecontext information such that, responsive to the first call and thesecond call being placed to the emergency call center, a relativepriority between the first call and the second call is determined forpresentation to an emergency operator based on the first set of contextinformation and the second set of context information, whereindetermination of the relative priority is further based on the firstgeographical location and the second geographical location; and apresentation module configured to present incoming emergency calls toemergency operators in accordance with the priorities determined by thepriority module such that, responsive to the first call and the secondcall being placed to the emergency call center, the first call andsecond call are presented to an emergency operator in accordance withthe relative priority determined by the priority module.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein geographical locations obtained by the locationmodule are based on one or both of metadata associated with incomingemergency calls and/or a database that correlates telephone numbers toaddresses.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein geographical locationsobtained by the location module are further based on one or both ofglobal positioning system (GPS) information and/or information from oneor more radio towers.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextinformation includes information regarding proximity of one or more ofgeographical landmarks, roads, railroads, and/or bridges to thegeographical locations.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the prioritymodule is configured to determine priority information that indicatespriority for incoming emergency calls by comparing geographicallocations associated with the incoming emergency calls with geographicallocations associated with emergency calls that have been answered by theemergency call center or are in the process of being answered by theemergency call center.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the prioritymodule is configured to determine the relative priority between thefirst call and the second call by comparing the first geographicallocation and the second geographical location with one or moregeographical locations associated with current emergency events.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the call monitor module monitors the incomingemergency calls before the incoming emergency calls are answered by theemergency call center.
 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising: ahistory module configured to obtain historical information associatedwith the incoming emergency calls such that, responsive to the firstcall being placed to the emergency call center, the history moduleobtains a first set of historical information associated with the firstcall, and such that, responsive to the second call being placed to theemergency call center, the history module obtains a second set ofhistorical information associated with the second call, wherein contextinformation is further based on historical information from the historymodule.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the historical information ofan individual incoming emergency call includes one or more of a callfrequency associated with a telephone number for the individual incomingemergency call and/or one or more emergency types based on previousemergency calls associated with a telephone number for the individualincoming emergency call.
 10. A computer-implemented method forprioritizing incoming emergency calls for emergency operators, themethod being performed by one or more processors configured to executecomputer program modules, the method comprising: monitoring incomingemergency calls being placed to an emergency call center, wherein theincoming emergency calls include a first call and a second call;obtaining a first geographical location associated with the first calland a second geographical location associated with the second call;obtaining context information associated with the incoming emergencycalls that describes the contexts in which the incoming emergency callsare placed, wherein context information is based on one or moregeographical locations, wherein the context information includes a firstset of context information associated with the first call and a secondset of context information associated with the second call, wherein thefirst set of context information includes the first geographicalinformation, and wherein the second set of context information includesthe second geographical information; determining priority informationthat indicates priority for incoming emergency calls based on obtainedcontext information; determining, responsive to the first call and thesecond call being placed to the emergency call center and responsive todetermining the priority information, a relative priority between thefirst call and the second call for presentation to an emergency operatorbased on the first and second set of context information, wherein therelative priority is further based on the first geographical locationand the second geographical location; and presenting, responsive to thefirst call and the second call being placed to the emergency callcenter, the first call and second call to an emergency operator inaccordance with the determined relative priority.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the first geographical location is based on one orboth of metadata associated with the first call and/or a database thatcorrelates telephone numbers to addresses.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the first geographical location is further based on one or bothof global positioning system (GPS) information and/or information fromone or more radio towers.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoringthe incoming emergency calls is performed before the incoming emergencycalls are answered by the emergency call center.
 14. The method of claim11, further comprising: obtaining, responsive to the first call and thesecond call being placed to the emergency call center, a first set ofhistorical information associated with the first call and a second setof historical information associated with the second call, wherein therelative priority is further based on the first set of historicalinformation and the second set of historical information.
 15. The methodof claim 14, wherein the first set of historical information includesone or more of a call frequency associated with a telephone number forthe first call and/or one or more emergency types based on previousemergency calls associated with a telephone number for the first call.16. The method of claim 10, wherein the context information includesinformation regarding proximity of one or more of geographicallandmarks, roads, railroads, and/or bridges to the geographicallocations.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein the relative priority isdetermined by comparing the first and second geographical locationsassociated with the first and second call with geographical locationsassociated with emergency calls that have been answered by the emergencycall center or are in the process of being answered by the emergencycall center.
 18. The method of claim 10, wherein the relative prioritybetween the first call and the second call is determined by comparingthe first geographical location and the second geographical locationwith one or more geographical locations associated with currentemergency events.